Pay your Council Tax by Direct Debit and you could win £25,000

Haringey are currently taking part in a London wide Direct Debit campaign in conjunction with Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd (Bacs) and 19 other London Boroughs.

To be in with a chance to win £25,000* sign up to pay your Council Tax by Direct Debit.

Not only is Direct Debit the easiest way for you to pay but it is also the most cost-effective way for us to collect your Council Tax payments.

Direct Debit saves you time and effort and payments are guaranteed.

If you have difficulty paying your Council Tax on the 1st of each month, you may find paying by Direct Debit easier as you can select your Direct Debit payments to be collected on the 1st or 15th of each month.

To sign up to pay your Council Tax by Direct Debit and be in with a chance to win £25,000*, please download and complete a Direct Debit mandate (PDF, 364KB). Please send the completed form to:

Haringey Council
Benefits and Local Taxation Division
P.O. Box 10505
London
N22 7WJ

Woman smiling

You’ll smile too when you pay your council tax the easy, Direct Debit way. You’ll spread the cost across the year and you won’t have to worry about being late to pay.

So why not make the switch? Do it now and you’ll be entered into our free Prize Draw to win a life-changing £25,000*. Happy days indeed!

Happiness is DD

Set up a DD with your bank and payments are made automatically but you stay in control – it can be cancelled any time
You are protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee - you’ll get a full refund from your bank if an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit.
You can trust Direct Debit to be totally secure – so just relax and enjoy how it frees up your time

Direct Debits can be collected from most bank or building sociecty accounts with a few exceptions such as savings accounts. Please check with your bank or building society if you are unsure.

Any payments made by Direct Debit are protected under the Direct Debit guarantee. For further information visit the Direct Debit website (see the external links section below).

*Terms and conditions apply

For further information, please download the full Terms and Conditions (PDF, 18KB)

No Bank Account?

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) can offer you independent advice on how to open and use a basic bank account. Please call 0845 606 1234 for an information booklet, or visit the FSA website (see the external links section below).

|back to top

About the prize draw

Who is eligible to enter the prize draw?

Residents living in participating London boroughs who sign up to pay their council tax by Direct Debit by 5pm on 15 July 2010 are eligible to enter the prize draw. Existing Direct Debit council tax paying residents from the participating areas will automatically be entered.

Can people who live in a borough not listed as participating still enter?

No. The terms and conditions of the Direct Debit prize draw state that only residents from participating boroughs are eligible to enter.

Which councils are taking part in the draw?

Barnet, Brent, Camden, City of Westminster, Ealing, Enfield, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Richmond and Wandsworth are all participating in the draw.

How do people enter the prize draw?

Residents from the 20 participating boroughs who wish to enter the prize draw must sign up to pay their council tax by Direct Debit, by either filling out a paper Direct Debit Instruction, registering via their council’s website or over the telephone. All instructions for Direct Debit payments must have been received by the participating councils by 5pm on 15 July 2010. Residents living in participating boroughs who already pay their council tax by Direct Debit will automatically be entered.

What if an existing Direct Debit council tax payer does not want to be entered?

All registered Direct Debit council tax payers in the participating council areas are automatically entered, however there is no requirement from the winner, other than to accept the prize.

How will the winner be drawn?

For further information on how the winner will be drawn please see the terms and conditions outlined on the Direct Debit - Be a Winner website (external link) which outline exactly how the winner will be selected.

When and where can I find out who has won?

The name and London borough of the winner will be available in writing from Bacs Payment Schemes Limited 30 days after the prize draw.

How will the personal details of residents entering into the prize draw be safeguarded by the organisations running the promotion?

All personal and financial details of residents entering the prize draw are safeguarded by the council with whom they are registered. The prize draw will be made anonymously and the identity of the winner only revealed after the draw. At that point only name and contact details of the winner will be provided to the Promoter, all financial information remains confidential.

What happens if a resident’s council tax is part funded by other people/third parties – can they still enter?

The prize will be awarded via transfer into the bank account from which the council tax Direct Debits are taken. Where council tax is paid jointly by more than one person then any subsequent division of the prize by the account holder (s) (if applicable) will be the responsibility of the winning bank account holder(s) and not Bacs Payment Schemes Ltd.

|back to top

About Bacs:

Founded in 1968, Bacs, the not-for-profit, membership-based industry body is owned by 15 of the leading banks and building societies in the UK and Europe.

Responsible for the schemes behind the clearing and settlement of automated payments in the UK including Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit, Bacs has been maintaining the integrity of payment related services for over 40 years.

Since its inception, more than 79 billion transactions have been debited or credited to British bank accounts via Bacs. And in 2009 more than 5.6 billion UK payments were made this way with a total value of £3.83 trillion.

For further information please visit the Bacs website (external link) or go to the Smart Way to Pay website (external link), the home of The Smarts, an animated family who use automated payments to help improve financial management and control.

More about Direct Debit:

A Direct Debit is an instruction from a customer to their bank or building society authorising an organisation to collect varying amounts from their account. This can be used to ensure regular, safe and efficient payments of anything from household bills to charitable donations. Over three billion Direct Debit payments are processed by Bacs a year and 72 per cent of adults now have at least one Direct Debit commitment.

To learn more about setting up a Direct Debit to help keep your bank account in order, please contact your bank or building society.

|back to top